The man the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) put in charge of investigating the biggest scandal in Serie A history concluded his report on Monday. Francesco Saverio Borrelli handed over the 180-page document to FIGC prosecutor Stefano Palazzi, whose job it will be to press charges against clubs and individuals suspected of wrongdoing at sporting tribunals.
Borrelli, who confessed to knowing little about the game before being given the FIGC post, expressed optimism that Italian soccer can bounce back from the scandal. "The world of football is not sick at the roots, just in some of its branches," he said. "It can heal".
Over the last three weeks Borrelli has been investigating allegations that an organization led by former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi used a network of referees, linesmen, referee-appointers and FIGC officials to steer Serie A games in some clubs' favour.
Lazio, Fiorentina, AC Milan and Sampdoria are suspected of being involved in the "Moggi system", as well as Juventus.
Borrelli, a former magistrate who spearheaded the Clean Hands political corruption probe in the early 1990s, said he had to base most of his findings on the results of criminal investigations launched by prosecutors in several cities. He said this was partly because the suspects he interviewed put up a "defensive wall" of denial.
"We did not have any real confessions, just minor admissions," he said. "But I don't think we can talk of organized crime. Here
is a degree of solidarity between those who shared certain practises for many years". The FIGC tribunal is expected to convene next week, on June 26-27.
The tribunal should issue its sentences by July 9.
Appeals should be heard before July 20, so the whole sporting disciplinary process can be wrapped up before UEFA conducts the draws for next season's European club competitions. Juventus risk being dumped from Serie A and the European Champions League and being stripped of the 2005 and 2006 crowns.
Fiorentina and Lazio, which finished fourth and sixth in Serie A, may be relegated too and lose their respective places in the Champions League and the UEFA Cup. The Italian press says Milan and Sampdoria are not so deeply implicated and will probably face league-points penalties at most.
Individuals found guilty of misconduct face the prospect of being banned from working in the game. The scandal exploded when daily newspapers published wiretapped conversations recorded as part of criminal probes which suggested Moggi pressured the referee-appointers into giving Juventus 'friendly' officials.
State prosecutors in four cities are looking at different elements of the alleged web of corruption, which also extends to illegal betting, false accounting, doping and transfer fraud.
